Andrew Ference was up early on Wednesday morning. And down. And up again.

The Boston Bruins defenseman ran the steps at Harvard Stadium at 6:30 a.m., accompanied by other early-rising exercisers from the November Project, as well as Patrick Burke, the co-founder of You Can Play, the charity committed to garnering acceptance for LGBT athletes in hockey and across sports.

Burke's run was not part of his normal routine, but a fundraising exercise, and a fruitful one. By early Wednesday afternoon, in less than 48 hours after agreeing to the stair-climb, You Can Play raised more than $3500.

Part of the success of the endeavor stemmed from the fact that the Bruins sent Caryn Switaj to the stadium to chronicle Burke and Ference joining some 300 runners to climb 1,000 steps before most people had breakfast. The Bruins' 230,000-plus Twitter followers saw multiple updates from the stadium, including pictures and video, reaching far more eyeballs than You Can Play (@YouCanPlayTeam) could with its 12,000 followers, or Burke (@BurkieYCP) with his 6,800, or even Ference (@Ferknuckle) with his nearly 21,000.

"They thought it was a cool story, and that with Andrew involved, it was something they should cover," Burke told Sporting News. "So they sent people from the PR department over to cover it. The Bruins have been great from the start. They helped us with Zdeno Chara, doing his PSA. Shawn Thornton has been great with his support for gay athletes in the past. Now, Andrew Ference. They've been a great organization, a first-class organization from Day 1, when it comes to supporting You Can Play and helping to get our message out."

At least, for now. If and when the NHL begins a lockout on Saturday night, teams will have to act like their players do not exist, cutting off communications with all of them, except for those players who are injured and continue to receive medical care from their clubs. That does not mean that hockey teams or players will have to stop their charitable endeavors, but that they will be separate in their efforts.

"It's much more effective if the teams and the players can work together on those projects," Ference said. "It doesn't mean you can't do those things. There are things I believe in and things guys on the team believe in. You don't need the team there to do those things, somebody to hold your hand. You're going to do them if you believe in them, and there are a lot of players that will continue doing that no matter what they do to us work-wise. But the effectiveness, the amount of people you reach, surely that would be impacted."

Likewise, You Can Play is not about to stop its own efforts just because there are no NHL games. Still, a lockout would hinder the visibility of a project that, while hoping to affect change across the sporting landscape, has its base in hockey. Burke, a scout for the Philadelphia Flyers and the son of Toronto Maple Leafs general manager Brian Burke, started You Can Play in honor of his brother Brendan, who was killed in a car accident in 2010, months after coming out to his teammates at Miami University, where he was the hockey team's student manager.

As it stands now, You Can Play plans to release two new public service announcements this week: one with an NHL player, one with an NHL owner. After that, You Can Play co-founder Glenn Witman is not sure what will happen. There still will be work to do, but good luck replicated Tuesday, when You Can Play released a PSA from Matt Hendricks of the Capitals, and Washington owner Ted Leonsis released a statement offering his praise.

"We are proud to stand with Matt Hendricks and athletes across the globe to make a difference in the sports community,” Leonsis said. “You Can Play is an important cause, and we value this opportunity to have a role in its mission.”

The Capitals still will be able to have a role, as will Hendricks. So will the Bruins and Ference. Just not together.

"I don't know who wrote the black-and-white book on the fact that you can't have any interaction, and can't talk to each other or work on projects like that," Ference said. "Cut to the chase on stuff like that. If there's good that can be done in the community, and you can do things to help out, there's got to be a little common sense put into the equation, and realize that no matter what, we're on the same page for that kind of stuff. That stuff should transcend all the other BS."